1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a medical system architecture of the type having a modality for acquiring examination images, a device allocated to the respective modality for processing the examination images, a device for the transmission of data and the examination images, a device for storing the data and examination images, and further devices for post-processing the data and examination images.
2. Description of the Prior Art
System architectures of this type serve, for example in hospitals, for generating and processing medical examination images or to prepare diagnoses of patients.
The book “Bildgebende Systeme für die medizinische Diagnostik,” edited by H. Morneburg, 3rd Edition, 1995, pages 684 ff. discloses medical system architectures, referred to as PACS (Picture Archival and Communication Systems) wherein image viewing and image processing locations, referred to as work stations, are connected to one another via an image communication network for fetching patient data and images generated by modalities.
German Utility 200 03 469 discloses a hand-held computer for the display and processing of medical data. Such a hand-held computer makes it possible to carry the electronic patient files as well as a number of additionally interesting medical data such as, for example, image data along in mobile fashion, for example when the physician visits the hospital bed. The data exchange with existing computer systems ensues with interfaces. The data also can be transmitted by e-mail.
In a medical modality, the emergency admitting staff of a hospital can designate an accident victim with whom a fast overview diagnosis is to be immediately carried out by telephone, which can greatly disrupt normal operations. Such a designation also can ensue via additional computers in the proximity of the modality, but it is not assured that this emergency report will also be immediately noticed.
The client software of a radiology information system (RIS) is the user interface for medical-technical radiology assistants (MTRA) and physicians in radiology in order, for example, to admit patients, plan examinations and terminate them, to administer the findings and initiate billings. Dependent on how this is embedded in the higher-ranking hospital information system (KIS), some of the events can already ensue via the interface such as, for example, the patient admitting, performance requests and billing, and the RIS merely accepts the data coupled with these events via a network interface.
In addition to these “administrative activities”, the RIS often also acts as workflow driver in radiology in order, for example, to send request data in the form of a DICOM worklist entry to a modality such as a CT, MR or X-ray device at which the examination is to take place. Given current systems, the examination data, for example, a number of images, series and radiation protection data such as tube voltage (kV), mAs product (mAs), time (s), energy dose (Gy), etc., must be manually read by a worker and transmitted into the RIS for the required transfer of the examination data from the modality into the RIS for documentation and billing, a considerable outlay and additional sources of error occurs as a result.